Give Me One Reason

In a November 18, 2015 interview with Tavis Smiley, singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman talked about her forthcoming “Greatest Hits” album and the remastering of her songs for it, and said in part about that process that, “Often turning the volume up means compression. And when you compress things, it’s great in a way because it’s louder, but it also takes the dynamics out. So we were really careful because, when you start to do that too much, you lose all of those little low and high moments, and a lot of those things matter in the sparse arrangements that, you know, are represented on some of these songs.” 

In audio recording, the term “compression” means that the overall volume of the song is increased, but as she noted, the dynamic range – the difference between the soft parts and THE LOUD PARTS – is decreased, and the entire piece is almost one volume. Acoustically, excessive audio compression can, and does, lead to listening fatigue – literally, a physically tiresome weariness of hearing brought on by a lack of dynamic range. Think of it somewhat, as being yelled at all day long. One would get very tired of it very quickly, even if the yelling was not in anger.

Artistically, and naturally, it is important to recognize and remember that moments of whispering softness and quietude are times in which important messages are conveyed to our heart and soul, which is also why it is important for us to remove ourselves from the din of a constantly blaring teevee at home, and the often acoustically noisome barrage of our work environs.

There are many voices in the world, and they all have meaning. Yet for us to be able to be sensitive to them, to be able to respond to them, and their needs, we must regularly remove ourselves from them so that we can not only hear ourselves, but also hear Heaven’s sweet voice of love in our hearts, because CONSTANT EXPOSURE TO LOUDNESS decreases the sensitivity of our hearing, figuratively and literally… in much the same way as READING ALL CAPITALIZED LETTERS makes reading difficult.

Peace be with you.